SAN FRANCISCO, November 17. /TASS/. The United States has handed over the year-long rotating leadership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, to Peru.

The ceremony was held at the ongoing APEC summit in San Francisco on Friday.

The APEC includes 19 countries and two territories, namely Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, China (joined in 1991), Mexico and Papua New Guinea (1993), Chile (1994), Russia, Vietnam, and Peru (1998). Two Chinese territories - Hongkong and Taiwan - joined APEC in 1991.